• Keep Lyle Overbay to play first base and use Mike Napoli to DH. Overbay has looked better in recent days at the plate and could be an adequate fill-in. His being lefthanded would help balance the lineup, too.

• Keep Mauro Gomez as a DH. The big slugger is righthanded, which is not necessarily what the Red Sox need. But he has shown power and had a strong winter in the Dominican league.

• Keep Ryan Lavarnway as a DH and occasional catcher. That would allow Jarrod Saltalamacchia to DH, too.

• Have Jonny Gomes DH and keep Jackie Bradley Jr. to play left field. You can bet a lot of fans would love to see this. But Bradley, as good as he has looked this spring, has yet play at the Triple A level. This also would start his free-agent clock. If Ortiz is only going to miss a few weeks, this move seems unlikely.

• Sign the likes of Jim Thome and Bobby Abreu. The Sox probably have more palatable in-house options.